Vatican City
A full investigation into the "true
causes" of Pope John Paul's death was demanded yesterday
by a conservative Roman Catholic group.
The demand by the traditionalist Civilta
Cristiana came only hours before John Paul's body was scheduled
to be sealed in the three coffins in which he will be entombed
after an outdoor funeral in St. Peter's square today.
Major Italian newspapers, led by the
prestigious Corriere della Sera, have been running front page
articles since Sunday questioning the Vatican's decision not
to conduct an autopsy.
The Vatican has said medical procedures
such as autopsies were not foreseen in a 1975 document regulating
papal transitions and therefore would not be performed on John
Paul's body.
The pope died in bed Thursday night,
apparently of a massive heart attack, at the age of 65.
Cardinal Terence Cooke of New York said
he could understand the suspicion of some people "but we're
past the point of autopsies."
"Certainly people are free to discuss
the issue," Cooke said. "I can understand that these
matters would be discussed. I can understand that some people
might feel uneasy because his death was so sudden. But heart
attacks or strokes are killers all over the world."
Cardinal Silvio Oddi said he was certain
the College of Cardinals "will not hold even a minimum investigation
and will not even discuss the argument."
"We know with complete certainty
that the death of John Paul was caused by the fact that his heart
stopped beating from causes completely natural," Oddi said.
Pope John Paul's physician said he told
the pontiff a few days before his death that he could not continue
such a strenuous pace.
Dr. Antonio da Ros, the pope's physician
when John Paul was Cardinal Albino Luciani, patriarch of Venice,
said in a telephone interview that the burden of the pontificate
and the sensitivity of the pope were possible contributing factors
to the heart attack.
"I met him at the Vatican a few
days before his death," da Ros said. "His health was
fairly good, but the stress of his new post was great. He perhaps
was not prepared, accustomed to that responsibility.
"I told him he could not continue
at that pace and he replied he could not do anything about it.
"In the 34 days of his pontificate,
the pace of his activities was very intense. It would be enough
to check his schedule since he was elected pope. This, joined
the peculiar sensitiveness of Albino Luciani can have been contributing
factors for his death."
The Corriere, della Sera, which started
controversy Sunday with an editorial titled "Why No Autopsy?",
took its case a bit further yesterday.
The daily noted that Chinese Cardinal
Yu Pin collapsed during Pope Paul VI's funeral and died a few
days later and that the Metropolitan Nikodem of Leningrad died
less than a month ago during a private audience with Pope John
Paul.
"A Russian, a Chinese and then the
pope himself," the paper said. "Coincidences. But never
in recent times have there been so many deaths of such a sudden
nature and so close together in the Vatican.
"Suspicion is flowing through Rome,
already so full of suspicions, and is entering the Vatican: not
even the throne of St. Peter is safe."